Apple's stock climb continues for the third straight trading day closing at 40 15/16, up 1 3/4 or another 4.47%. This follows a gain of over 13% during the last two days of last week. This marks the first time since February 1st that Apple has closed over 40 making today's close a 12 week high.

As we reported last week, certain money managers and analysts on Wall Street have begun to notice that Apple is profiting, has an absurdly low P/E, has a rebounding market share, and has more cash than one can shake a 3-button Compaq mouse at.

Good news is continuing to circulate amongst the financial press as Reuters mentions that Apple is once again officially one of the Top 5 computer makers. This is in a Reuters Press Digest of investor information. The following is a quote from the Digest that is pertinent to Apple.

* Apple Computer is once again one of the top five makers of personal computers in the United States. The PC maker is busily hawking a product line whose price begins at $1,500, while manufacturers using the operating systems of Microsoft Corp. and micro chips of Intel Corp. (MSFT - news) are being stung by low prices.

Altogether, Apple has seen an 18.02% increase in the price of their stock since its close on Wednesday at 36 3/8.

"I am not all that excited about this rise," says Wes Hicks, The Apple Trader at The Mac Observer. "This is getting closer to where Apple should be. Their P/E is still the lowest of all the PC manufacturers and investors are just starting to wake up to that."

Mr. Hicks also suggests that some profit taking could take place during the next two days, but feels that Apple's stock should continue to rise after that.

The Mac Observer Spin: We agree with our own Mr. Hicks. It is possible that some investors will get out now that Apple is back in the same neighborhood as it was after MacWorld in January of this year. But we should see more institutional investors and other heavy weights jumping onto he bandwagon.